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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24130189">RUNAWAY</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aes_hma/pseuds/aes_hma'>aes_hma</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>hlvrai things [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Background Dr. Coomer/Bubby, Fluff, M/M, implied gordon/benrey, joshua is bapi, maria is the only good parental figure here, overall its just cute, soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:42:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,830</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24130189</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aes_hma/pseuds/aes_hma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gordon has an ex. </p><p>She comes for monthly visits.</p><p>(not a game au, also post-resonance cascade obvs)</p><p>title song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuDm4rXxGAA</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>hlvrai things [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741294</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>224</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>RUNAWAY</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"For fuck's sake--Benrey! For the last god damn time, you are NOT eating the china--"<br/><br/><em>Crunch.</em><br/><br/>Gordon groans, digging his nails into the handle of his cutting knife. "Benrey. Fucking... come on. Really?" He sighs, looking over at the eldritch abomination he calls a roommate. "dude this is ten out of ten shit. you can't expect me to, uh, <em>not </em>eat it, dude," Benrey mumbles through a mouthful of plate, giving a shrug at the end. A crash comes from the living room, and then a few bangs. Gordon was <em>so </em>glad he got time to clear the living room out for Dr. Coomer and Bubby's impromptu wrestling session this time.<br/><br/>Today was the dreaded date for Gordon: the monthly visit from his ex, Maria. It wasn't really dreaded because of Maria, she's still one of the nicest people Gordon knows, it was more dreaded because, well. He hadn't talked to Maria since he got back from Black Mesa, and Joshua hadn't been to her house on the weekends.<br/><br/>It'd been five weeks, and they were trying their best to make it work, but Gordon had made no attempt to contact anyone he knew since then. <br/><br/>He knew for a fact Benrey had been out of the house without him (like he didn't specifically tell him NOT to leave the house) because of the recent news--one of the headlines last week was about a cryptid burglarizing a department store of all its silverware and dishes. Gordon looked back over at Benrey as he heard another <em>crunch</em>, this time the victim being a spoon. Yeah, that definitely sounded familiar. He went back to working on brunch with a roll of his eyes. <br/><br/>Hopefully Maria wouldn't murder him.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>Meanwhile, in the living room...<br/><br/>"Ah-ha!" <br/><br/>Dr. Coomer grabs Bubby by the leg, forcing him down onto the carpeted living room floor. Tommy whistles and claps from the couch, Sunkist barking a few times. Coomer grins as he stands up, putting his hands on his hips. "Fine handwork, professor! You might actually bring me down one day." He holds a hand out to help the dazed scientist up, who takes the help with nothing less than a begrudging sneer of, "yeah, I'll keep <em>hoping</em>." <br/><br/>Joshua, the youngest lad in the room and Gordon's son, only about 9 years old, looks extremely confused by what just occurred. "Um... Mr. Dr. Coomer? Wha, um, why'd you, you do that? I thought, um, you gotta play fair. In wrestling." He asks, tilting his head to the side. A few short curls fall in his face, and Joshua bats them away.<br/><br/>"<em>Harold </em>is a dirty cheat, Joshua." Bubby huffs, crossing his arms after patting his sweater-vest off and making sure his glasses were intact.<br/><br/>"Now, professor, that is a very wild accusation to make!" Dr. Coomer laughs heartily. "Have you ever considered that you're just <em>very </em>easy to handle?" He raises a brow, before going to sit back down on the couch next to Tommy, who covers his mouth to hide his smile and not invoke Bubby's wrath. Bubby is about to say something before there's a knock on the door. <br/><br/>"I'll get it!!" Tommy yells, scrambling over the couch to get to the door. Sunkist jumps after him, both equally excited to get the door as it seems. He throws the door open, picking Sunkist up with very little struggle, and looks up at the visitor only to gasp and take a few steps back. Joshua, who was peeking over the back of the couch, stands up and starts bouncing on the cushions. "Mom!" He cheers.<br/><br/>There in the doorway stands a woman--rather short but wearing an icy stare to cover herself in the 'terrifying as fuck' department. She wore her brown hair in a messy bun and wore only an orange tracksuit. "Hello," the woman greets Tommy, putting on a smile, "I don't think we've met before?"<br/><br/>Joshua practically vaults over to the table and rushes up to the woman to hug her, burying his face in her stomach. "Oh! Joshua, goodness, you've gotten taller!" She laughs, ruffling the kid's hair ecstatically. "Yeah, yeah! I did! Dad said I got, um, four more taller!" Joshua gives her a gap-toothed grin, and his mom returns nearly the same exact smile. "That's great! You wanna introduce me to, um," she looks up at the others in the room, who are all staring at her blankly.<br/><br/>"Oh. Great. More people who look like Gordon." Bubby quips after his long period of silence. <br/><br/>"Mr. Bubby, that's really-really rude! Mr. Freeman is cool!" Tommy hugs Sunkist, who barks in agreement, closer. "You don't have to be so... so mean..." Bubby scowls, looking away. "Harold I can't deal with this right now. I'm going to go blow something up, do you want to join me?" Dr. Coomer hums, standing up. He twirls his mustache. "Now, Bubby, it would be very rude of us not to greet our guest. How about you go get--Hello, Gordon!" <br/><br/>"yooooo, gordieeeee, is that your hot gamer girl gf?" Benrey questions very mockingly, suddenly sitting on the back of the couch and still decked out in his security guard outfit. Gordon, who had just walked into the room, groans. "No, Benrey, that's Maria. Hi, Maria." He sighs, waving tiredly to her with his spatula. She waves back, looking very unimpressed<br/><br/>Benrey slinks off of the couch and over to Gordon, invading his personal space a lot. "you seem stressed. wanna kiss about it it?" <br/><br/>"Do you want to keep eating my silverware?"<br/><br/>The security guard tenses at that question, looking up at the ceiling. "uhhhh. yeah." He mutters, before snatching Gordon's spatula and opening his mouth wider than should be possible to drop it down his throat. Gordon glares at him, looking like he's about to strangle Benrey. "heh. baby bitch. you gonna cry? little, little baby kid? haha?" <br/><br/>Gordon sighs, dragging a hand down his face. "No, Benrey. Seriously. Shut the fu--<em>heck </em>up. And stop swearing, Joshua is <em>right </em>there." Benrey grins, leaning back and striding back toward the couch, satisfied for now. "ok feetman. whatever." <br/><br/>"Gordon. <em>Good seeing you</em>." Maria frowns, crossing her arms. Gordon runs a hand through his hair. "Good seeing you too, Maria. Uuh, I have roommates now."<br/><br/>Dr. Coomer buttons his two sweater buttons back up and calmly approaches Maria with a warm, earnest smile. "Hello! I am Dr. Harold Coomer. It's lovely to meet you." He says, holding a hand out for a handshake. Maria nods, taking his hand. She cringes slightly at Dr. Coomer's grip, but smiles slightly regardless. "Maria Goff." She curtly responds.<br/><br/>"Bubby, come here! Don't be shy!" Coomer calls to the other scientist, beckoning him over with a wave. Bubby hisses like a feral cat. "Professor, come on. I would hate to have to punt you into space for not being polite again!" Dr. Coomer scolds, too joyfully to be an actual threat. Maria glances over at Gordon, giving him a strange look. Gordon just shrugs.<br/><br/>Bubby walks over regardless, arms still crossed and an appraising look on his face. "Good, good. This is Bubby, I'm he's," the doctor seems to completely gloss over that one despite the questions Maria was about to ask, "that is Tommy, and Sunkist, hello, Sunkist!" Dr. Coomer waves happily to the dog, who barks in return. Tommy puts the over-sized golden retriever down. "He's the... the perfect dog." Tommy comments. "Do you want some-some soda, Ms. Maria??? It'll help you see faster!" <br/><br/>"Tommy we've talked about this, that's called a caffeine overdose--" Gordon is cut off. <br/><br/>"bro... don't be a bummer. a-a party pooper. why're you... it's soda, not gonna hurt you." Benrey says, still sitting on the back of the couch, now in a precarious position with his legs pulled up to his chest. "it's cause you don't have your passport. you, you don't have your passport, so you're gonna get a caffeine overdose from it."<br/><br/>"You really must find your passport, Gordon." Dr. Coomer agrees. "It's standard procedure!" <br/><br/>"And he didn't even have his <em>Silly Straw™</em>." Bubby gives Gordon an icy stare, as if he wasn't talking about him. Maria clicks her tongue, taking Joshua's hand. "I'd love some soda, ah, Tommy, right?" Tommy nods, giving Maria a thumb up, before hurrying off into the kitchen to grab some soda. <br/><br/>It is silent for all of four seconds.<br/><br/>"MR. FREEMAN! THE O-THE STOVE IS ON F-FIRE!"<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>"... all that <em>filthy </em>Wikipedia™ money, and they invested it in the Helicopter Heap™!" Dr. Coomer finishes regaling the table with a tale from their adventures in Black Mesa--although they were all there except for Maria and Joshua. <br/><br/>"I still have flashbacks," Bubby sighs, shaking his head. "Terrible. So terrible."<br/><br/>"I didn't... I didn't like the Helicopter Heap™. We had to shoot it too much." Tommy frowns, putting his taco down on his plate and feeding some tomatoes to Sunkist. "dude. why didn't any of you ask me for, for help, or something. i coulda... uh... rekted it." Benrey blankly says in between bites of his plate. "that was such a not pro gamer move." He continues, looking over at Gordon. "like when you, uh, you got yourself caught. by the army. 'cause you're fucking stupid. nyahnyahnyah i'm gordon feetman and i don't like hot security guards nyah nyah,"<br/><br/>Joshua giggles, kicking his legs underneath the table. "yeah that's what your dad sounds like. but like, <em>waaaay </em>louder."<br/><br/>"I'm sorry, the <em>army</em>?" Maria asks, raising a brow. The table goes dead silent, she hadn't really said anything since they had sat down. "We killed the entire U.S. army." Bubby states like this is an obvious thing. "And also a god. He killed God." He points at Coomer, who blushes and waves a hand dismissively. "Oh no, I <em>did not</em>, professor! Stop kidding."<br/><br/>Gordon sighs. "Can you two... stop? For like... one second?"<br/><br/>"cranky 'cause you're straight? yeah? huh?" Benrey sasses, cocking his head to the side. Gordon glares at him, digging his spoon into his taco salad. "heh. heh. you look mad. calm-calm down." He then sings a few notes of Sweet Voice™ at Gordon in all blue. Gordon's expression softens somewhat, before he just goes back to eating.<br/><br/>"Cranky because Harold beat the shit out of you?" Bubby snarks back at him, having completely disregarded his food. "huh? oh. nah. pretty fair fight. i think i was the one, uh, who beat... i beat him up. after gordon ignored me again. we played--in-in the sand. and the mud. and he doesn't care. what the fuck.<br/><br/>"like seriously. first he doesn't bring his fucking passport, and then, then i gotta follow him around so he doesn't get, he doesn't get hurt, because of, uh, uh, jeff, fucking jeff, anger issues mcman, and now i don't... my playstation 2 plus ran out. so i can't play heavenly sword with him now. its after work i told him i was gonna play, uh, heavenly sword with him. after work. he unfriended me and i'm really mad. that would've not happened if i didn't had to-didn't have to, to, fight you guys. i clocked out, like, six weeks ago."<br/><br/>Benrey takes a bite of his plate, exceedingly calm for the rant he just went on. Tommy speaks up, very timidly, after a moment. "Um... Mr. Benrey... I can play Heavenly Sword with you... i-if you want..." <br/><br/>"yoooooooo!" The eldritch creature's extremely bad microphone-sounding voice absolutely peaks in a show of rare excitement. "dammnmnnnnn tommy you really are the coolest atta." Gordon finds his voice again, and takes a second to stammer before asking his question. "Hold- hold on. Benrey. You were off the clock that <em>entire goddamn week</em>?" <br/><br/>"yea bro it was pretty stupid. spent an entire week tryna get you to do passport inspection and i was supposed to be gaming with my-my gamer friends. on heavenly sword ps3." Benrey takes another bite of plate, still nonchalant as hell despite the only two sensible people in the room cringing at the sound of glass shattering. Or maybe Gordon should've expected that, Benrey's an absolute bastard. "I... I'm gonna tell you this. One last time. <em>I don't have my passport</em>. You use passports, to <em>leave the country</em>. It's not for--it isn't company ID." Gordon explains, utterly exasperated. <br/><br/>"Gordon, it's company policy that you have your passport for inspection." Dr. Coomer basically agrees with Benrey, giving Gordon a look that would seem smug on anybody else. "Need I remind you of the Silly Straws™, as well? Or perhaps the Pita Cutter Room™?"<br/><br/>"The what-!?"<br/><br/>"I can't believe you'd forget the Pita Cutter Room™ <em>again</em>." Bubby groans, poking at his very dead burrito with his fork. "You're so <em>forgetful</em>, Gordon." Gordon gives him the flattest, most unamused look he can muster right now. Tommy laughs a little from across the table, ruffling the fur on Sunkist's head like one would do with a kid, and not a gigantic golden retriever.<br/><br/>All in all, a normal evening in this household.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>It wasn't until after Joshua went to bed that Gordon even remembered Maria was even <em>there</em>.<br/><br/>This was the most comfortable he had ever felt during one of her visits, and he was really thankful for the Science Team™'s presence, despite how weird they were. They were all sitting on the couch now, watching All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 per Tommy (and Benrey, although Gordon genuinely didn't want to do anything for him)'s request. <br/><br/>The movie was nearing its end. Dr. Coomer had fallen asleep, leaving Bubby to grumble about wanting to get up and how his arm was going numb. Benrey was sprawled half-off the couch, like he was sleeping. However Gordon knew for a fact that he was staring at him, more specifically his feet--what the fuck is <em>with </em>this guy? He was trying to ignore it. Desperately. Tommy was happily watching the movie, petting Sunkist and occasionally feeding him some popcorn.<br/><br/>Gordon was pulled by his thoughts by Maria setting her hand on his shoulder. He looked over, making sure to keep his voice down as much as he didn't want to. "Uh-what's up?" Gordon asks, glancing down at the floor for a second. God he can't talk to her. He can't. Fuck.<br/><br/>"We need to have a talk, Gordon." Maria quietly responds, before moving toward the end of the couch to get off without disturbing anyone. Gordon takes a moment to drink in his newfound fear before following her. He looks back, seeing nobody noticing them leaving besides Benrey, who still gave him the same stonefaced look as usual.<br/><br/>Maria led him to the bathroom, where she flicked on the light and sat herself down on the sink. She motioned for Gordon to shut the door, and he obliged. "What, uh, what do you want to talk about?" His nervousness was edging into his voice, and he leaned on the sink like it'd help him stay calm.<br/><br/>"God, you sound just like you did when I asked you out." Maria laughed, rolling her eyes. She set her hand on Gordon's. "I wanted to talk about your roommates. They're a little weird, but I think they're a good fit for you, Gordon." <br/><br/>Gordon looked away. Okay, she was being nicer than usual. He thinks this is a good sign, but who can say for sure?<br/><br/>"Okay, I'll get to the point: when're you gonna ask the guard guy out?" <br/><br/>He choked on nothing, starting to cough as he pulled his hand away from Maria's. Gordon devolved into laughter after a second, not believing a second of this. "No--we aren't--I'm not going to! Ever!" Maria crossed her arms, leaning back against the cabinet over the sink. "Bullshit. I know you, Gordon, you're gonna eventually."<br/><br/>"Christ... fuck, you've got me there. You do know me, but I actually do not have a caring bone in my entire fucking body for him." Maria shrugs, sliding off of the sink. "Keep telling yourself that, amico. It's getting late, I've got work in the morning. Text me sometime, I want to hear about your romantic exploits again. Especially if they aren't past ones." She opened the bathroom door, stepping out. "And, hey. Don't fuck it up, okay?" <br/><br/>"Yeah, way easier said than done, Mars." Gordon sighs, turning the light off as he follows her out. <br/><br/>Maria gave him a semblance of an assuring smile. "I'll see you later, Gordie."<br/><br/>Maria left immediately after exchanging good-byes with Gordon, and he was genuinely surprised she didn't stick around to finish the rest of the movie. It left just him and the Science Team™ to watch the last 10 minutes of All Dogs Go to Heaven 2. <br/><br/>He walked back down the hall to the living room, only to find the Team all awake, and the movie paused.<br/><br/>"So... when <em>are </em>you gonna ask him out?"<br/><br/>Oh, for fuck's sake.</p>
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